Growing Up
by 0sunshine0
Summary: Are Sakura and Sasuke destined to constantly bump into each other's existence? Or Is it fate or is it just life? Constantly growing and adapting to every situation, doing their best they can to survive it with an ending result of blissful happiness. From toddlers to school children to high school drama, the two can't seem to get away from each other, no matter how far of a distance
1. 3, 5

**Author's note: Uhm…I hope you like it as much as I will enjoy writing it.**

**Rating: T (for now. might have to change it to M)**

**Disclaimer: I have absolutely no rights to Naruto.**

***a smidge out of character***

**AU: for the fact that their school is a normal school and Naruto still has parents. woot woot**

* * *

"Ahh she's beautiful Mebuki!" the lady of the house smiled as she looked down at the small pink haired child.

"Thank you, Mikoto" the mother of the child replied with a grin. "Where are your sons?"

"They're somewhere around here," the darker haired woman said as she motioned the two into their mansion-esque home. "Come in, come in. No need to stand out here."

The visitor and her young daughter held hands as they moved into the home. Neat and trim, just as Mebuki had expected it to be. She laughed aloud to herself. Emerald green eyes peered up at her in confusion but she just shook her head with a slight smile. Squeezing her daughter's hand, she lead her into the backyard, where the youngest son was waiting.

At the sight of the strangers, the young boy scrambled around to find a hiding place. Keeping his eyes low to the ground he made himself believe that he was invisible from anyones sight. The pinkette laughed quietly.

"Sasuke, it's ok," the boy's mother told him as she appeared behind Mebuki, closing the door behind here.

The boy's face perked up at the sound of his lovely mother's voice. Running at top speed he leaped onto the deck and grabbed his mother's hands, standing somewhat behind her for protection. Peering behind his raven bangs he caught sight of the pinkette and quickly searched for a new object to stare at. His onyx eyes darting from the sticks on the ground back to the emerald eyes of the little girl made both of the older women laugh.

"Silly boy," his mother said with a smile, ruffling up the child's dark hair, earning a big smile in return. "Sasuke, this is my friend Mebuki. And this is her daughter, Sakura. Go ahead, introduce yourself."

"Hn," was all the boy could say before being forced out from hiding. After receiving a stern look from his mother, the onyx eyed boy glanced from mother to child. Nodding at each, he finally replied with a quiet "hello."

With a slight tinge of pink on her cheeks, the young girl slowly smiled. The moment their eyes met, she quickly grew redder and averted her eyes onto the small pond.

"Sakura, are you being shy?" Mebuki chuckled, moving towards the chairs in the shade. "Go play Sakura, i'll be right over here. Don't worry." Letting go of her daughter's hand, she walked behind Mikoto over towards the chairs, located on the deck, under the shade of a large tree.

Sitting down, she watched her daughter from afar. "How do you like your long hair?" she asked out of the blue, combing her fingers thru her short hair, with a slight scowl on her face.

Mikoto, clearly caught off guard, stared at her friend for a moment before answering. "I like it. I mean, it's all i've ever known, so I guess I'm just comfortable with it." She smiled, watching her son quietly walking towards the pinkette. Sasuke looked back at her, and she nodded in approval, relieving Sasuke of his stress. "I've always known Sasuke to be a tad skittish, but I wasn't aware it was this bad," laughing as she looked back at her friend.

Smiling to herself, Mebuki replied "Could it be he's not used to being around girls? Particularly cute ones?" Hearing this, the boy's cheeks began to turn crimson and he rushed over to the pond. Getting down onto his knees, he pretended to be distracted by the fish. Sakura looked at her mom with a puzzled expression. "Go over there."

Turning slightly in the breeze, the pinkette wandered after the boy. Her light orange dress, swaying in the wind, began making a strange sound, attracting the boys attention. Putting his left hand onto the edge of the pond, a fish came near and caught Sasuke off guard.

With a loud splash, the two friends began to laugh, watching Sasuke in disbelief over half falling into the water. Scared, Sakura began running towards him to help.

"That was unexpected," Mikoto said between breaths. "Sasuke is usually very poised and graceful."

Sakura, with her dress half drenched in water, was holding onto Sasuke, who refused to look at her face. Looking very serious and annoyed, he allowed Sakura to help pull him up before he would fall in again.

"You're all wet," he bluntly stated.

"I know."

"You aren't mad?"

"No."

"Why?"

"'Cuz I thought you were hurt," Sakura smiled down at the boy in her lap. She reached out to stroke his hair, but he brushed her hand away.

"I-I'm ok." Sasuke stood up and looked down at her, meeting her gaze. Slightly turning red, he moved over to the growing tree next to the pond; Sakura following closely behind.

"My sweet sweet girl. She gets attached quickly," Mebuki warned. Her dark green eyes grazing over the scenery, stopping at the onyx pair staring back at her.

"Sasuke isn't going anywhere," Mikoto said, her onyx eyes sparkling at the idea of their kids being friends, or more. "I think our children look cute together. We'll be needing Sakura and you to come over more often," she smiled. "If not for my sake, then for Sasuke's."

"Of course. It would be great for our children to grow up together," Mebuki smiled in return.

Sakura and Sasuke were sitting underneath the small tree, staring up at the cherry blossoms starting to bloom. A light gust of wind caused a small bud to fall onto Sakura's hair. Sasuke moved close to her and removed it, laughing. Sakura smiled in awe.

"How's Itachi?" Mebuki asked. Noticing her friends uncomfortable stature, she tried to change the subject. "I'm trying to convince Sakura into letting her hair grow out, but she's being stubborn."

"Oh? I think she'd look good with long hair. It's sometimes tough to manage, but if she ever needs help with any tangles, Sasuke can handle it. He's always brushing my hair," she laughed, stroking her own long hair, mesmerized.

"What?"

"What? Is that odd? Sasuke likes to brush my hair. Although I think it's more so he just wants to spend time with me, but either way," she smiled, looking at the two kids playing. They had moved from the tree and back to the pond, watching the fish.

"And Itachi is doing good. He's been to the doctors a few times, and was given new medication. So far he hasn't had any problems," Mikoto finally told Mebuki, looking up at the sky. Slowly, she let out a deep breath.

"That's good. Any idea what it is he has?"

"Not yet. Once they think they have it figured out, he develops a new symptom to disprove them," she shrugged.

Sakura and Sasuke began to play a game of tag when their mother's called them over. Without thinking, Sasuke grabbed hold of Sakura's hand and pulled her with him, using all of his might.

"Let's go inside, it's getting to be a bit chilly," Mikoto told the children. Looking down at the children's hands, she raised an eyebrow with a grin.

"S-She was taking too long," Sasuke quietly said, slightly turning red. He quickly let go of Sakura's hand and ran inside without looking behind him.

"Sasuke!" Mikoto called after the boy. "Wait for our guests to enter the house first," she said under her breath.

"It's all right. Sasuke was more than gentlemen like, right Sakura?" Mebuki said, teasing her daughter.

Fixing her newly dried dress, Sakura looked up at Mikoto and slowly shook her head yes.

"Did you two have fun?" Mikoto asked, curious as to how the pinkette felt about her son.

"Yes. A lot!" Sakura exclaimed. Surprised by her own outburst, she blushed and looked down.

"You know, Sakura, I've been told Sasuke likes long hair. Isn't that interesting?" Mebuki smiled, tilting her head towards Sakura, continuing to tease her innocent daughter.

Sakura looked up, blush still on her face. "I like long hair too…," she mumbled.

Beaming at one another, the ladies entered the house.

"We should get going. Kizashi should be done with work and he said he had wanted to show Sakura something 'special'," Mebuki sighed, shaking her head.

"When would you like to meet again? I know Sakura would love to meet Itachi and play with Sasuke again." At her mother's words, with excited eyes, Sakura began looking around the room for the boy. After a minute of searching, she looked back at the older ladies staring down at her. She laughed at herself and began to stare down at her feet, moving one slightly around.

"I think-" "MIKOTO!" a voice exclaimed, interrupting her. "GET IN HERE NOW. ITACHI!"

After recognizing the voice's owner and hearing her elder son's name, Mikoto went into full alert, darting out of the room while shouting "Sasuke, see them out!"

Sasuke, coming from around the corner of the dining room, with big onyx eyes walked them hurriedly to the front door. "I'm sorry. Itachi needs them right now."

"That's all right. I hope your brother is ok. And tell your mom that we can hang out whenever he gets better, and if she needs anything at all, we'll be around to help," Sakura's mom told the young boy in earnest. She reached out her hand to Sasuke and they shook hands without saying a word.

"I-I'm sorry Sasuke…" Sakura said, unsure of what she should have been saying.

"It's ok. This happens all of the time," Sasuke explained, keeping his face down.

"Come now, Sakura. Let's leave them be. You two will see each other again."

Mebuki started to walk away, leaving the two children alone.

"I-I guess I have to go now. It was fun," her emerald eyes starting to glaze over slightly.

"Hey!" Sasuke started to shout. "No crying."

"But…I'm gonna miss you."

"Hn."

Sakura began to rub her eyes with her right hand when Sasuke grabbed her left hand. Startled, she slowly looked up at him. With a peculiar look on Sasuke's face, he too quietly said. "You're….-"

"Sasuke. What did you say?" Deciding she didn't really want to know the answer, Sakura, took her hand away from Sasuke and started to walk away, worried Sasuke might be mad at her. She started to pick up speed after realizing her mother was far ahead of her.

"Pretty," Sasuke repeated to himself, while watching the pinkette walking away from him. In the distance, he heard his mother pleading with Itachi to keep breathing, his brother choking on air, and his father cursing. With a sigh he closed the door and proceeded to the chaotic scene.

* * *

It had been 2 years before the two would see each other again. Sasuke had all but been forgotten by Sakura.

"Come on Sakura! How on earth does your hair manage to be this bad every morning?!" the short haired woman shouted, as she tugged at her daughter's hair.

"Mama! It hurts!" whimpered her daughter, pulling away from her mother, making matters worse.

Sakura had decided to grow out her hair and with a little assistance from her mother, her hair had grown from shoulder length well down past her rear end. Every morning was a struggle to get her hair under control, mainly because Sakura kept insisting in bathing at night and falling asleep right afterwards, with her wet hair.

"I'm going to have a chat with you friend Ino's mother. I don't know how she keeps her hair so neat," Mebuki sighed, still struggling with the comb in her daughter's hair.

"And thus the men shall rule the world as the women are busy with their looks. HA HA HA," the pinkette's father laughed as he entered the main room. Seeing the look on his wife's face, he moved her out of the way and began to untangle his daughter's thick hair.

"I have to run some errands today. Sakura, I need you to come with me so we can pick up some of your school things," Mebuki said, relaxing on a chair. "It shouldn't take long, and you might run into some of your friends."

"But Mama…," Sakura grumbled, looking up at her mother with pleading eyes.

"Sakura, no one is going to be mean to you. It's all in your head, child," Mebuki sternly scolded.

Looking away, Sakura took the brush from her father and finished brushing her hair. "Thank you," she meekly told him and walked into her room to get ready for the day.

Glancing at each other, the proud parents sighed. Sakura had told them, what they were lead to believe were false accusations, about the younger boys picking on her because of her pink hair. Girls too would pick on her for getting all of the boys attention. When the two had approached the children and their parents, the children would deny everything and the parents would get mad at them. To ease the tension, they would jokingly tell the parents they were sorry and that Sakura wanted to be a storyteller when she grows up so they misheard her when she told them the information. Some of the parents seemed to believe them and some just didn't care for their excuse.

"Good luck," the dark pink haired man told his wife, giving her a kiss on the cheek. He said goodbye to Sakura and walked out of the house, going to work in the early morning.

Shortly after, Sakura came out of her room wearing her usual long sleeved black shirt and yellow-green pants. Pausing at the mirror in the hallway, she messed with her hair some more.

"Sakura, let's go. You look fine."

"But Mama," Sakura said, holding out a red ribbon.

Sighing lightly, Mebuki grabbed the ribbon and wrapped her daughter's hair up in it, tugging lightly to tighten it.

Rechecking herself in the mirror, Sakura giggled and gave her mother a childish grin. Throwing her arms up in the air, pretending to be a plane, she "zoomed" past her mom and out the front door. "Let's go!" she exclaimed with glee.

"Oh Sakura…" Mebuki breathed.

The city of Konoha was as busy as ever. Located in the heart of Konoha was the shopping area. The areas surrounding the shopping area was considered to be where the lower income families had lived.

On the edge of Konoha there were 4 schools. The high school was located in the northernmost point, right next to their Hokage, or less used Mayor's office. To the South was Konoha South; to the East was Konoha East and so forth. The smaller schools held all of the children under the age of 13. Depending on where the family was registered, their kids might go to , but their neighbors might go to .

"Sakura, do you know what items you need to start school?" Mebuki quizzed her daughter.

"uhm…paper, pencils, markers, rain coat-"

"So you're going to Konoha West?" Mebuki interjected.

Sakura nodded.

"Do you know anyone else who's going to be there?"

"Ino. Some of those girls…" Sakura trailed off, becoming emotional.

"Sakura. Relax. You're a big kid now, going off to school, being on your own," Mebuki said, frowning. She didn't know why Sakura had such low self-esteem. Her parents had never given her any reason to not love herself. Mebuki even made it her goal for her daughter to love everything about herself and to not be vain. So far, it wasn't going very well.

"I know," Sakura timidly replied. "Oh! Mama, do you see those raincoats?" Sakura pointed out.

As they approached the store, an old friend was coming out.

"Mebuki!" "Mikoto!" the two women exclaimed at once, giving each other a hug as quickly as they could.

Moving out of the way, the three ladies moved over to an unoccupied bench. Sitting down, grinning, Mebuki broke the silence. "It's been awhile! How are you? How's Sasuke and Itachi?"

"My boys should be around here somewhere. Itachi took Sasuke to go get new shoes. His old ones have gotten so muddy," Mikoto laughed. She smiled at Sakura. "Do you remember Sasuke?" she asked.

"Mmhmm," the pinkette mumbled, a shiny yellow raincoat catching her eye.

"Oh? Were you getting a raincoat? Does that mean Sakura is going to Konoha West?" Mikoto asked.

"She sure is. Just like her Mama and Papa," Mebuki beamed. "What about Sasuke? Or are you homeschooling him like you were with Itachi?"

"Well, we had to with Itachi. He'd miss too many classes and i'm afraid that the children wouldn't be so understanding about Itachi's predicament," Mikoto explained. "And Sasuke is going to as well!"

"Too bad they keep the girls and boys separated into different classrooms," Mebuki shrugged. "Do you remember when they merge them?"

"I think it's at 8 or 9 years old, depending on how they scored on their placement tests. But I don't remember, it's been so long!" Mikoto laughed, shaking her head. "There they are," she smiled.

Jumping up in excitement, Sakura launched herself off of the bench and into the middle of the busy street.

"Sakura!" Mebuki shouted, not being able to see her daughter very well.

"Huh? Mama? Mama!" the pinkette shouted, getting lost in the crowd. Being pushed and shoved around by the crowd, she knelt and grabbed her knees, starting to cry.

"Hey, take my hand," a man told her.

Sakura looked up and was mesmerized by the man's smile.

"It's ok. I'm going to help you," he said, starting to worry.

"Sasuke…?" Sakura asked in disbelief, blinking several times.

"No, no. Itachi," he replied with a grin, pulling the young girl up onto her feet.

Grabbing the man's left hand as he began to leave she felt a jolt.

"What was that?" she asked, staring at their hands.

"Hey, I have her!" Itachi shouted at his mom, not hearing the girl's question.

Sakura and Itachi crossed through the traffic and reached the bench, now empty.

"Don't do that to me!" Mebuki scolded.

Sakura slowly moved behind Itachi, trying to hide from everyone's view. Her embarrassment grew as her mom continued to scold her.

"She's ok now. That's all that matters," Itachi said, trying to calm the angry mother.

Blushing at the fact that she was being defended after just being saved by the man, she hid her face even more before anyone else could see.

"Hey brother, you left me behind!" Sasuke complained as he finally caught up to everyone. "What happened to you?"

"Forgive me Sasuke. I had someone I had to save," he grinned.

"What?" Sasuke asked, trying to see who it was he was talking about.

Cautiously returning into view, Sakura's cheeks were still red. She refused to meet anyone's face.

Sasuke, astonished, ran his hand through his hair, contemplating.

"H-Hi again…" he meekly said.

"Hi Sasuke," Sakura said, avoiding his eyes still but not letting go of Itachi's hands.

Blood boiling, Sasuke glared slightly at Itachi before he turned away. Mikoto patted his head softly, noticing his reaction. Sasuke sat down on the bench, looking down at his feet.

"Sakura, why don't you go pick out a raincoat?" Mebuki asked.

"Oh. O-Ok," Sakura stuttered. Never letting go of Itachi's hand, Sakura led them into the shop.

Before entering, Itachi's onyx eyes met with Sasuke's. Mirroring expressions, Itachi averted his eyes and mouthed 'sorry'.

Sasuke's cheeks began to flush.

Sighing amongst themselves, the elder women looked at each other with worried eyes.

"Was Sakura missing her bow?" Mebuki inquired.

"I think so," Mikoto confirmed, chewing on the inside of her mouth.

A few minutes passed in silence before Itachi and Sakura returned.

"What color did you get?" Mikoto mused, tilting her head, smiling.

"Green," Sakura replied, smiling at her bag. She let go of Itachi's hand and froze for a second before she handed the bag over to her mom.

"Sasuke, don't you think green would look cute on Sakura?" Mikoto asked.

"Hn."

"Did you know you two are going to the same school?"

"Hn."

Sasuke kept his eyes down while everyone watched him. Itachi approached Sasuke and put his hands on the younger child's shoulders. Looking up at his big brother, Sasuke started to revert back to his older self.

"How about some ice cream? I can take Sakura and Sasuke, so you two can finish shopping and catching up," Itachi said.

"Mama can I?" Sakura asked, clearly excited by the way she was tugging at her mom's shirt.

"I don't see why not," Mebuki said.

"Meet back here in half an hour you three," Mikoto commanded.

Itachi nodded his head.

Sasuke got off of the bench, putting his hands into his pockets, sighing.

Sakura cheered to herself, grinning from ear to ear.

Whilst walking down the crowded street, Sakura watched the boys walk in front of her. Itachi was a lot taller than Sasuke but he also seemed a lot more frail. Their hair color was the same and they matched each other with how they walked. Something about the elder brother attracted Sakura and she wanted to know more about him, but with there being a big age gap, she was afraid he would just disregard her.

"H-How old are you?" Sakura blurted out without thinking.

Itachi turned around, confused as to why she would ask.

"11," he stated.

A tinge of pink started to appear on the pinkette, and Itachi laughed at it.

"We're here," Sasuke interjected, not liking the way his brother and his friend were acting. Sasuke had only ever felt jealousy a few times, and that was whenever his father would compare the brothers. Sasuke always felt like he came up short somehow, despite not being the sick one.

"Which one would you like?" Itachi asked the pair.

"I'll get it myself," Sasuke snorted, trying to act older than what he really was.

Itachi handed him some change and Sasuke approached the vendor. Staring, Sakura watched Sasuke as he picked out the flavor her wanted. Amazed at how little effort Sasuke had needed to approach someone he didn't know, Sakura didn't notice the elder brother laughing at them.

Returning proudly, Sasuke showed off to Itachi. Itachi nodded in approval and took his turn at the vendor.

Emerald eyes softening at the sight of Itachi ordering and joking with the vendor, she was in awe of him, her mouth opening slightly.

Annoyed, Sasuke pushed Sakura to move behind Itachi.

Breaking out of her trance, she accidentally bumping into Itachi.

"Are you ok?" Itachi asked.

"Y-Yes," Sakura blushed.

"It's your turn, here," he passed her money and walked over to Sasuke.

"You really should be nicer to her," Itachi chastised his younger brother. "You want to be friends, right? Friends don't hurt friends."

Sasuke scowled at his brother as he took a small bite of his ice cream. It was too cold for Sasuke's liking. Looking around at the other vendors nearby, Sasuke noticed one that was selling hair items and utensils.

Reaching into his pockets, Sasuke pulled out some extra change he had had from earlier today. "Hold this," Sasuke told his brother, shoving his ice cream into his hands. Sasuke ran off to the vendor.

Shortly after, before Sakura had even returned from picking out her ice cream, Sasuke returned with a red ribbon in his hand.

Itachi gave him a questioning look. Sasuke's onyx eyes darted towards the pinkette for a split second but Itachi had seen it.

"Here. Hold this. I don't want it to get sticky," Sasuke told Itachi, swapping the ribbon for his ice cream.

Sakura arrived to see Sasuke's ice cream dripping all over his hand. Laughing, she offered him a napkin and quickly turned to offer one to Itachi. Eyes widening, Sakura caught sight of the red ribbon in Itachi's hand.

"Is that…mine?" she questioned, placing her free hand onto her head. "My ribbon?"

"Oh, I guess so," Itachi replied, looking at his younger brother.

Sasuke's happy demeanor quickly turned sour and he looked away, using the napkin to clean off his hand.

"Can you put it on me?" Sakura asked, moving in front of Itachi.

"Sure. Hold this," Itachi told the pinkette, handing his ice cream over to her. He quickly placed the ribbon into its rightful place, but kept it loose.

With a twinkling smile, Sakura handed Itachi his ice cream back, noting that they had both picked the same flavor and thanked him.

"Sakura! It's time to go!" Mebuki shouted, taking sight of her child.

"Coming Mama!" the pinkette shouted back, forgetting about the boys. Quickly running towards her mom, her ribbon started to come undone.

"Wait!" the younger boy yelled.

Sakura turned around to see Sasuke chasing after her, abandoning his ice cream onto the ground. Sasuke caught up with her and grabbed hold of the ribbon before it fell off.

"It wasn't on right," Sasuke quietly said, staring into her eyes.

Sakura didn't respond, making Sasuke feel nervous.

"I'll help you…" Sasuke trailed off, moving his hands into her hair.

After he finished putting the ribbon into her hair and tightening it, he held onto a strand of her hair, seemingly mesmerized.

"You're….pretty…." Sasuke absentmindedly whispered to himself.

Despite himself, Sakura had heard him and had begun to blush feverishly.

"Th-Thank you Sasuke."

Jumping at the realization that he had said it out loud, Sasuke quickly let go of her hair and started running down one of the busy streets.

"I'm on it," Itachi said, rushing past the still stunned pinkette.

"What did he say to you?" Mebuki asked after Sakura finally arrived in front of her.

"N-Nothing," Sakura stumbled.

* * *

**Behold! The end!**

**Next chapter will be about the two youngsters finally being in the same class after a few years absence. **

**I hope you enjoyed this little 2 chapters in 1 enough to continue on with me into the next part. :)**


	2. 8

**Rating: T (for now. might have to change it to M)**

**Disclaimer: I have absolutely no rights to Naruto.**

**Time to smile! :)**

**Mega side note…I just read Naruto Gaiden…and i'm so…on edge. haha but I'm thinking thats what Kishimoto wanted to do. Make people emotional about the idea of…no spoilers! ha lets just say that…he definitely seemed to go back on his ending of Naruto. UGHH SO MAD. haha anyways**

Before her very own eyes, Sakura had already finished 3 years of school. At Konoha West, she never did get to see Sasuke but that didn't perturb her in the slightest. Her mind would still occasionally wonder off into dream land, imaging what it would be like to have had both Itachi and Sasuke in her class. But of course that could never happen with Itachi being 6 years older than them. And they were both boys after all. Despite only meeting Itachi that one time a few years ago, he had left a crater sized impact on Sakura. She would often find herself smiling dumbly at herself, getting caught frequently by the teachers who would then scold her for not paying attention to class. Many times Sakura would be forced to stay after to clean by herself, as per her punishment.

On a few occasions Sakura's mom would be called in to speak to her teacher. Always fawning over her brilliance, but scowling about her discipline, her mother was at a loss. She would sit Sakura down every night to help her with her homework but Sakura always had the answers; Most times, without even having to think about it.

Sakura was very dedicated to her studies. At home. But at school, it was a whole other ballpark. Sitting in class, already knowing who was going to get called on, who was going to get the answer right or wrong, was just too boring for her. So were their studies. She had no interest in math nor spelling. She wanted to be with people but sadly no one wanted to spend much time with her. Sure, she had the short blonde haired girl with bright greenish-blue eyes named Ino, but most times they were competing over the most petty of things. Lately it was over who's hair was the softest among the two. All of the girls in the class agreed to it being Ino, some out of fear of Ino turning on them.

3 years had passed since Sakura had last seen the brothers. But not a day would pass without her hearing about Sasuke. All of the girls in her class fawned over the admirable, quiet, distant boy. Sometimes Sakura would hear a story about him smiling at one of the girls and the whole class would instantly become jealous of said girl. Sakura could somewhat understand their attraction but it was hard to pinpoint exactly what it was about them. Too many things to choose from, really.

When she would think about Sasuke, instantly she would remember his dark obsidian eyes and small build, that did have major potential but when she'd pay attention to his eyes, she'd start changing Sasuke's face into Itachi's. Itachi, on the other hand, had broad shoulders, was much taller than either Sakura or Sasuke and he had the most pronounced tear-troughs Sakura had ever seen. His onyx eyes seemed to be deeper, hiding something she couldn't figure out and she was dying to know what it was.

If she tried hard enough to remember what she often felt was her most precious dream, she could still feel his calloused hand surrounding hers that one sunny day during her visit to the market. She would always smile at the memory and would feel a slight tingle at the thought of doing it again. She always giggled at such silly thoughts.

Snapping back to reality, Sakura was released from her daydream. Hovering above her she saw Ino in her usual long sleeved light red dress with a purple cover and knee high matching boots, snickering above her. Realizing she was drooling all over her long, now gnarled, hair that was spread about her desk, she quickly sat up, wiping her face with her sleeve, fixing her hair. With much disdain, she glared at Ino, sticking out her tongue simultaneously with the other.

Ino glared back and turned her head, refusing to look back. "Let Forehead sleep. She doesn't need a break from class anyway," she chastised, quickly leaving the room with a few of their classmates.

"Annoying…Pig…," Sakura huffed under her breath. Rubbing her temples, the pinkette stood, stretching high to the ceiling, her long lime green loose fitting dress rising well above her knees, making her dark blue shoes stand out even more than usual. Staring at her hands above her, she caught sight of her chewed on thumb, with chipped yellow nail polish. Silently scowling at herself in disappointment, she picked up her science book and notebook with her favorite dark green pencil and decided to join the rest of her class outside for break.

Walking down the empty halls, Sakura was lost in thought. In half an hour she'll be taking her placement tests. She'll be answering questions that would soon determine what class she'd be placed in next year. She, in her mind, will be facing her future. A future with friends? Or foes? With Sasuke or….Sasuke and Ino and her tormentors?

With a slight shiver down her spine, she paused at the closed sliding doors. Peering out of the windows, she saw her competition. All of the girls in the school were vying for a spot in the coed classroom; Sakura wanting it the most.

She looked over at the girls sitting at the picnic tables, every single one of them silently studying their books, scribbling down notes wildly. Easily relating to them, she sighed, knowing they were in the geek category. Ever the enthusiast, Sakura had always dreamed of being friends with the popular clique. Being what some believed to be mortal-enemies with the queen bee squashed her dreams quickly. She was forever to be known as the geeky, big fore-headed loser.

Scratching her head, she averted her eyes. Quickly gaining her attention was the Queen Bee herself, brushing thru her light blond hair with her fingers. Grinning at the group of girls fawning over her, Ino didn't seem the least bit nervous about the test. Sakura assumed it was due to her big head, thinking she was the greatest thing ever to be born, even better than Minato Uzumaki, the Hokage of their whole town. Ino's green eyes shown clear in all aspects of the garden. Not even those flowers could compete with the deep color that was immersed within the deeps of her eyes.

Sakura continued studying Ino. Ino pulled out a rouge barrette, hidden in a small side pocket from her violet skirt. Showing the group of 'oohing' and 'ahhing' girls, she quickly parted her bangs out of her face, making the girls erupt into cheers. Gleefully smiling at everyone, Ino tilted her head and laughed. Life was good for the pretty blonde.

Grabbing her somewhat stringy pale pink hair in-between her fingers, she gloomily compared their hair. Ino's hair was much shorter than hers, better taken care of, and had absolutely no split ends whatsoever. Letting her hair fall back into place, Sakura snorted to herself. Despite losing in the hair department, she cheered herself on. Sakura had always felt smarter than Ino, and today she would definitely prove it to everyone. Teachers, parents, fellow classmates, Ino. Everyone will know who was smarter and in the end, beating Ino in any way that she can is really all that mattered to her at the point in time.

Deciding it was time to join the rest of the class, Sakura slid open the doors, and soundlessly sauntered off onto one of the garden's giant rock formation seats to the far right, away from Ino and her clique. Her elbow now placed on a higher rounded edge of the rock seat, she rested her left hand under her creamy chin. Half heartedly skimming the pages of her science book, she soon realized that she had memorized everything in it. Everything. Every chapter, every image, every caption of said image. Everything.

Starting to drift off into La-La land again, Sakura's left was softly kicked.

"I'm talking to you, you know!" the potential attacker shouted. Crossing her long arms, she huffed, waiting for a response.

Placing her right hand in the air, trying to block out the sun, Sakura's eyes started to focus on the girl in front of her. Ino. Of course it had to be Ino. Surveying her surrounding, Sakura straightened up, closing her book, accidentally dropping her notebook and pencil. Cautiously reaching for her things, Ino swiftly kicked them out of reach. Standing straight, Sakura quickly glared at the blonde.

"Why are you still wearing that dumb ribbon I gave you?" Ino snorted. "It's so 3 years ago."

"Yikes," Sakura feigned embarrassment. Turning her face from innocent to sly, "I'll let you in on a little secret, Ino Pig! The ribbon is from a boy," she grinned, watching Ino's eyes narrow. "And what's with your breath? You really are a pig, breath and looks," she retorted, earning gasps from the audience.

Turning red from the anger brewing from within, Ino picked up Sakura's notebook and launched it across the garden. "Have fun getting yelled at for being late!" she yelled, as she and the rest of the girls ran towards the entrance to the school building, after hearing the bell go off.

Hurriedly, Sakura searched and found her notebook, placing it firmly under her arm, on top of her science book. Leaping up onto the balcony, she rushed into the now crowded hallway of boys and girls, bumping into people, apologizing profusely.

One boy wasn't having a good day when she stepped on his foot.

"Watch it, will ya!?" the shaggy brown haired boy snarled in her face, his eyes turning into black slits.

Sakura, being stunned, just stood, watching. Noticing the boy getting angrier, Sakura braced herself for the inevitable. The brunet, still shouting nonsense, decided force would be the only way to get the slow girl out of his sight. He grabbed Sakura's arms and forcibly pushed the girl as far as he could. Sakura closed her eyes as she went flying across the hallway, desperately trying to keep her books in her arms and her dress from revealing to the world her plain cotton underwear. With a loud smash, a groan from both female and male, Sakura soon realized she wasn't laying face first on the floor, nor was she thrown into a locker. In fact, she wasn't even standing on the ground.

Opening her eyes, she glanced at the people in front of her, noticing all of the glares she was receiving from the females and the shocked faces of the males. Looking down, she saw two strong hands holding her small frame at the lack-there-of hips, turning her long green dress into a slight mini skirt.

Starting to panic, the pinkette started to turn red, and quickly struggled from under the person's hold on her body. Accidentally kicking the person in the gut, she was dropped onto her knees, groaning slightly. Afraid of finding out who caught her, she became uncoordinated, stumbling over her own hands, trying to grab her belongings. She quickly noticed that the boy must've dropped his own belongings in the process of trying to catch her. Another groan and a sore elbow later, she soon realized she had just elbowed the poor soul in the gut. Again.

The person quickly fell to their knees, grabbing their stomach. Finally looking over, Sakura saw a boy with black shorts and a matching black shirt.

Scratching his head, and moving his raven locks out of his face, his black eyes locked within her green ones. Keeping his gaze on her, he stood up and grabbed hold of both of her hands. Pulling gently, he helped the girl up onto her feet with ease.

Immediate warmth enveloped Sakura's hands, shocking the now frozen pinkette. Remembering what it had felt like so many years ago to be holding his hands, this time was different. His hands were much bigger, albeit not as large as Itachi's and they seemed harder. Before, they were small, extremely gaunt and very soft.

With a slight smile to herself, she quit examining their hands and bashfully looked him up and down. Sasuke had longer now toned legs, like a runners, more definition less muscle. His black shorts just reached barely below his knees and looked rather baggy and used on him. Might have been Itachi's hand-me-down pair, which is bizarre to think, what with their family being more on the wealthier side. His short sleeved dark black shirt hung well below his abdomen, and upon further inspection, she had thought she had seen his family crest printed on the back of the shirt. His creamy arms were bare of adornments and Sakura had become overwhelmingly tempted to grab his arms to see if they were muscular or just looked that way.

Shaking her head and lightly blushing at the thought of grabbing him in any which way, Sakura's eyes looked up at the young boys. He had dark shadows around his eyes, possibly from studying late into the night? Sakura's brow furrowed at the thought of it and studied him some more.

Sasuke's eyebrow arched at her action but he didn't comment, just continued to watch what it was the young girl was doing, not noticing the people surrounding them gawking at the pair.

Coming to here senses, she broke free from his grip on her. Sakura brushed out the wrinkles in her dress with the back of her hand and looked back at her friend from long ago. Timidly smiling, she began to play with her hair. "Thank you.." she murmured, keeping her eyes casted down at his feet. 'He must be an athlete,' she amused herself, noticing the dirt all over his shoes and the bruises all over his legs.

"Are you okay?" the boy asked in a worried tone. He reached out for her hand that was becoming entangled within her pink hair. Examining the situation, he quickly released her hand from its entrapment. Not realizing he didn't let go of said hand, he stared back at the pinkette. With a confused look, he hurriedly asked, "Can you even hear me? Do you need to see a nurse?" Never taking her eyes off of their entwined hands yet again, a fire started to burn from within Sakura's core. It had started earlier when she first bumped into him but was extinguished the moment they took their hands away.

It was back again and with a vengeance. It started in her abdomen and quickly erupted throughout her whole being; from the tips of her toes to her fingertips, to her head and back to her stomach. The lightheaded, swaying feeling Sakura was perceiving was quickly becoming overwhelming. Her knees becoming mush threatened to overpower her and she tightened her grip on his hands.

Turning bright red, from what Sakura could only describe as a fever, she removed her glazed over eyes from their hands and up into the boy's concerned-filled eyes. "Sasuke…" she whispered.

"Hn," the boy responded. Finally noticing he was still holding onto the girls tiny hand, he swiftly let go, placing both of his hands deep within his short pockets. Picking up the girl's science book and notebook, he silently offered them to her.

Hurriedly, Sakura scooped up the boy's workbooks and their pencils; forced his books and the green pencil into his hands, face still beet red.

Thrown off balance, Sasuke awkwardly moved the books around and managed to hand over hers with a slight struggle. Exasperated by the situation, he tilted his head towards her. Silently blinking a few times, he finally said, "Well….Good luck." Sasuke smiled to some extent and nodded his head. Getting a firmer grip on his belongings, he moved away from the lockers and Sakura and walked towards the group of guys he was at one point in time walking with.

"Hey man, sorry. Do you know her?" the now calm furry haired kid asked, approaching Sasuke with a nervous grin, scratching his head.

"No idea…," Sasuke faintly replied, giving a quick glance at Sakura.

Sakura stood in shock, completely on edge about the situation. First, she ran into Sasuke finally! She had been missing him for so long and his brother and mother. She wanted to catch him, talk about how he was doing, what he was up to; What Itachi was doing, if Itachi was feeling any better; If his mom would like to see her mom again, etc. She had so many things to say to the boy and yet she found herself dazed and severely mute. She couldn't find her voice, find her courage to utter anything more than his name and a simple thank you. How pathetic!

Second, what was with that feeling of burning desire?! The flame that had erupted through her very soul, bringing her up to what felt like an ultimate high only to come crashing down moments later, after Sasuke had let go of her hand. 'It was just a hand. Just a hand. Nothing more. No reason to become overwhelmed with all of these feelings, emotions,' Sakura told her inner self.

The usual observant pinkette had foolishly forgotten where she was standing. Smack dab up against the lockers, surrounded by what was to be assumed as the entirety of the younger female population in the school, Sakura straightened out her back, her flushed face now pale. Scanning the group of girls, Sakura's eyes stopped at the blazing green eyes, staring daggers into every inch of her body.

"How dare you, Billboard Brow!" Ino spat, moving to the front of the group, facing Sakura one-on-one. She crossed her arms but never let her eyes drop.

Tension rising, Sakura lifted her head, as if to say she was above the blonde. She snorted lightly at the very idea of Ino trying to belittle her. Starting to grin, "Why Ino Pig…what ever do you possibly mean?" the ever slick pinkette innocently replied, giving her innocent puppy dog eyes and all.

"Don't you mess with me- mess with us," the enraged blonde threatened, motioning to the group of females still remaining in the halls.

Most of the girls had already left for class, either from not wanting to be late. Whereas some were just too afraid to see what was going to happen between the two girls. The girls remaining were cheering for a fight. "How dare she touch our Sasuke!" some of the girls were chanting.

Ino lowered her arms to her side, but kept her hands balled up into fists. Still glaring, she slowly approached Sakura, who's eyes had just widen with the realization that she was in for it. Big time.

After what felt like forever, Ino finally reached Sakura. Putting her face directly in front of the other, their breath mixing into one, Ino quietly warned the pinkette, "You get in my way of true love-" she slammed her fist into the locker next to Sakura, "and i'll end you," she finished her threat. Standing fully up, Ino gave her a mocking grin, and walked towards class, bringing the rest of the girls with her.

Once everyone was out of sight, Sakura let go off her breath that she had inadvertently held during the whole scene with Ino. Slumping up against the lockers, she stared at the ceiling. Wallowing in self pity isn't something Sakura is used to doing anymore, but thankfully, before fully succumbing to full despair, a small pair of hands were pushing down lightly down on the pinkette's shoulders.

Looking up, Sakura was greeted by her occasional friend, Hinata.

"I-It's okay. They're gone," she stumbled out, smiling.

"Let me help you," she said, pulling at the pinkette's arms.

"Thanks Hinata," Sakura timidly said, unsure of the girl's intentions. Hinata was always nice but sometimes too nice. Maybe she secretly wanted Sasuke as well. Maybe she wanted to take Sakura out and go tell Ino gleefully that she had done her dirty deed. Or Hinata was just an extremely nice, gentle person. Only time will tell, Sakura supposed.

Giving Hinata a wearily look, Sakura quickly grabbed her things and began to walk to class, Hinata close on her heel.

"Sakura. Are you and Sasuke friends?" Hinata asked after a pregnant pause.

Sakura looked over her shoulder, peering through the window in the sliding door. After finding Sasuke staring down at his book, Sakura sighed, closing her eyes for a second. Looking straight ahead, "From a long time ago. I'm not sure about anymore though," she mumbled.

"Oh. I'm s-sorry to hear that," Hinata said. "I-I guess I'll see you later. Good luck on the test Sakura," Hinata said as they approached their classroom door. Hinata sat in the very front row, right next to the she-devil.

Slightly smiling at her, Sakura hurriedly rushed to her seat before her teacher would notice she was the last one to enter. Searching the room for any sight of the said teacher, Sakura cheered herself on upon realizing she made it on time.

"Not today Haruno," the teacher said from behind the desk. She was hunched over, picking up scratch paper for their test. "Pass these out," she commanded, holding the stack of paper unenthusiastically. "Consider this your punishment," she sighed.

Sakura walked down the steps towards the desk, almost falling in the process over someone's big brown boots.

Scowling at herself for tripping, Sakura passed out all of the paper in due time and took her seat.

"You know the rules. No cheating, no talking, no….I really don't care. Just pass the damn test so I can be rid of you," the teacher grouched. After this class, she'd be retired, no more bratty kids. She was oh so ecstatic. Clearly.

Grabbing her pencil, Sakura opened the booklet that was already on her desk and quickly began to answer questions.

A little biology here, some mythology there, Sakura flew through more than half of the test with ease. Glancing up at the clock, she realized she had only used up 20 minutes out of the whole 60. She looked down at her test and decided to slow it down, but of course it didn't work. She had to be the first one done, to prove to the pig in the first row that she's smarter.

All that she had left was the math and writing portion at that point. Cracking her fingers, she began to answer problem after problem with a fury, not once using her scratch paper. 5 minutes later and she had finished answering the 75th and last math problem.

Being smug was definitely something Sakura could get used to. She snickered to herself, trying to psych out the so-called 'competition' and it worked. She could see Ino starting to stiffen and if she wasn't mistaken she could tell Ino was starting to stress, what with the stench of her erase burning her nostrils.

Silently laughing, Sakura returned her attention to her work. She had exactly 33 minutes and 27 seconds left to finish the writing portion, on time. She cracked her neck in triumph, knowing she would only need 3.

The question that she was to answer was what was her ultimate fantasy and how would it be possible to obtain. What was it? Beating Ino? Marrying It-someone? Being the greatest doctor the world has ever seen? Just what was it that Sakura had truly desired?

Rubbing the red pencil's eraser on her chin, Sakura had a breakthrough. Sakura decided she would write about her school life. How she desired to actually be pushed through the ringer, challenged in some way. Sakura might not have been the most popular, but she was definitely one of the few girls who'd rather use her brains for smarts and not for looks, although she did try to look good. She knew if she wrote that, there would be no way that the person grading her paper would let her go to the lower classrooms.

Sakura was determined to make it into Iruka's. She had to, it was the very best of the best class in the whole building. Iruka would actually thoroughly prepare you for whatever it is you'd absolutely need to know in order to succeed; in life or in high school at the very least. He may be young, but his youth just makes it easier for him to understand what life is like now, rather than how it used to be many years ago, compared to the older teachers.

Combing her hair with her finger tips, Sakura started to space out, thinking about the earlier events that had transpired. Sasuke had looked so much more grown up. His bangs were all over his face and his hair was spikier than before. Maybe he had more time to style it now. Maybe that means Itachi is better and that he doesn't need to help out as much, he's free to do his own thing. Grinning to herself, she continued to write, absentmindedly.

"5 minutes left," the teacher bellowed out, interrupting Sakura's flow of happiness.

'What!?' Sakura screamed in her head. Frantically looking up at the clock she realized that she had indeed wasted all of her time. Looking around the classroom, there was only 4 others still working, her being the 4th. Ino must've been long gone and so was Hinata. Scratching her head, Sakura stared down at her paper. It looked complete but she had written so much that she wouldn't have the time to edit it.

Internally yelling at herself, Sakura stood up, clutching her pencil and answer sheets. She sauntered down to the teacher and placed everything on her desk.

"You forgot this," the teacher told Sakura, holding a red pencil.

"That's not mine…" Sakura said, confused.

"Look at my desk. Look at me. Do you really think red is my color?" the teacher said. Looking around, Sakura saw nothing but the color purple everywhere.

"Oh. I guess I did leave it…" Sakura awkwardly said, grabbing the red pencil. Staring at it while somehow managing to walk up the steps back to her desk, Sakura hadn't the faintest clue as to why the teacher demanded she grab a chewed on pencil.

Keeping hold of the pencil, Sakura gathered her things and walked out of the classroom. Accidentally bumping into someone, Sakura immediately flinched, in fear of it being that boy from earlier.

"You even stole my poor Sasuke's pencil?!" a voice bellowed out in Sakura's face. Roughly, the person's hands reached out and snatched the pencil from the pinkette. "See these?" the voice pointed at the small bite marks, "They're exactly 1 inch in diameter and there's only 3 bites. It's so obviously Sasuke's! I'm giving this to it's rightful owner. Ino."

Sakura chocked on air. "In what way does it belong to her?" she blurted out in disbelief.

"Why would you think it belongs to you?" the girl retorted, quickly running off with the pencil.

'Okay,,,That was just too weird,' Sakura thought to herself. Reclaiming her senses, Sakura walked over to her locker and took out all of the items from within. Most she would toss, some she would give to someone else. The only item she wanted to keep was the ribbon she had hidden away in the back, behind all of her old junk homework. That was the only item she ever held dear to her. The ribbon in her hair is what she liked to call an impostor. Her dad had gotten it after he thought he lost her other one, not knowing she had it in hiding.

Sakura thought back to the day that Itachi bought her the ribbon. She wanted to repay him in any way that she could, but because she hadn't seen him since then, she was never given the opportunity, not that she had even the slightest idea in what she would do. She grabbed the ribbon and gently placed it inside her notebook.

Closing her locker, she noticed a blond boy staring at her. He had extremely bright blue eyes. It was like looking at the ocean on a sunny day with no cloud in the sky. Or maybe his eyes were the sky and not the ocean after all. Or both mixing together at the same time.

"Hey," the boy said, breaking Sakura from her thoughts. He was wearing a black shirt with an odd red swirl on the front, with a blue streak running down his white shorts. His bright yellow-blond hair definitely matched his sunny disposition.

"Hi," Sakura finally replied, after thoroughly examining him. She couldn't recall ever seeing him, but then again, she had never seen Sasuke up until that point, nor that one animal.

"Need someone to walk you home? I noticed that one guy was still pretty angry and those girls didn't seem to be in any better of a mood than him," he said, smiling. He cocked his head.

'He seems very friendly. Very open,' Sakura thought. "I-I guess, if you want," Sakura told him.

5 Minutes away from her house, Sakura finally spoke up, breaking their calming silence. "I'm Sakura Haruno, by the way. Thank you for this. I wasn't sure what to expect today," she said.

"What a day," the boy said, gazing up at the sky. "This morning the weather was perfect. Light breeze, no cloud in the sky. Now look. Extremely cloudy, rainy looking."

"Yeah…" Sakura replied, unsure of what to say next. They hadn't talked the whole 15 minutes it had taken to reach the point they were at now, and it certainly seemed like they wouldn't talk for the remaining 5.

"You can leave now. I can do the rest of the walk myself," Sakura cheerfully said, trying to avoid conflict. She smiled at the blond and she saw the blond's face quickly turn red.

"O-Oh, if you're sure. I don't mind walking you all the way," the boy mumbled, looking away.

"No, I'm fine. It's just another turn right and there it is. I'll be fine. Thank you again. I hope to see you in my class next year…." Sakura trailed off, wanting to get the boys name.

"Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto smiled his absolute best smile. "I'll see ya then!" he yelled, running in the opposite direction.

'Naruto huh? Interesting name,' inner Sakura stated. "Yeah…Would've been nice to have talked more, but oh well," Sakura replied aloud. Shaking her head at her silly moment, she ran the rest of the way home.

Upon entering her house, Sakura shouted, "Mom! Dad! I'm home!"

Peering around the corner, her mom's head popped out. "How was the test? Do you think you scored a perfect 100?" she asked.

"Of course," Sakura puffed up her chest in response.

"Atta girl!" her dad shouted from his work room.

"Oh, honey, guess what!" her mom asked, entering the living room to better see her daughter.

"Let me guess. We're going to celebrate?" Sakura asked with a half laugh, smiling.

"That, and we're not doing it alone!" the mom exclaimed, happiness oozing out of her pores.

"What do you mean? Gran and Gramps are coming for a visit?" Sakura asked, puzzled.

"Nope, Mikoto and her boys are coming over!" the mother shouted, opening her arms expecting a giant hug from her daughter. She knew Sakura had been wanting to see them badly, despite not outrightly showing it. What had happened instead though, was definitely not something she was expecting.

Hearing someone knocking at the door, Kizashi walked past his two lovely ladies and answered the door. Ushering the three of them down the hall, he made small talk, mostly jokes, with the boys, earning laughs from mainly the elder one.

Meanwhile, Sakura's green eyes doubled in size and her face had turned completely red. Without a word, Sakura reached out her hand for support, trying to grab onto the couch, but missed and instead went crashing down onto the floor, just as Sasuke and Itachi had entered the room.

'What is wrong with me?!' she inwardly chided herself, groaning outwardly, refusing to look at the boys.

**Hi! How are you my dear reader? Lemme start out by saying that…I really enjoy reading and dreaming…and all of those good things. Now…I write for entertainment. For mine and for yours. While reviews aren't something that I need to continue writing, it does help me in many ways. It lets me see what works, what doesnt, what I need to improve on, who I need to focus on more, if I need to slow down or go faster, etc. but it's hard for me to judge without someone giving me their opinions. Any insight would be great, even if it was a simple 'this story is great' or 'this story is the worst thing ive ever read. i need to wash my eyes out' anything would help.**

**so with that in mind, i hope i can hear from every single one of you on what you think about my story :)**

**and if not…hey, i tried! haha idk if people even read these anymore. anyways, i hope you all have a great long weekend! until next thursday, i bid you adieu!**


	3. 9

**Rating: T (for now. might have to change it to M)**

**Disclaimer: I have absolutely no rights to Naruto.**

**Hi :)**

* * *

Kizashi Haruno had always had a great sense of humor. Whether it was because of his parents always yelling at each other or because his wife seemed to always have a chip on her shoulder and he felt the need to bring her down to earth, who knows why. But the moment the father saw his daughter faint over simply seeing two, in his opinion plain, kids entering the house, he absolutely lost it.

Not a day went by that he didn't make a joke or some sort of reference about the incident in front of her, and friends, and strangers. Anywhere and everywhere they went he'd make a comment, much to Sakura's chagrin.

Things had gotten even funnier for Kizashi once it was found out that his daughter indeed had gotten into Iruka's class, just as Sasuke had. At one point all Kizashi had to do was smile at Sakura and she'd immediately groan in anguish.

Now Kizashi wasn't doing this to be mean to his daughter. In fact, he was trying to teach her a lesson, albeit in his own awkward way.

Sakura had been overly confident with herself to the point where, while it was true that she had passed the test and made the cutoff, but just barely. Where she had done exceptionally well with the science, math, language parts, she almost failed the writing. Her 'story' was all over the place, as if she was just writing down exactly what she thought, how she thought it. Or so her teacher had written down on the paper.

During the entirety of her vacation, Sakura had stuck her nose in every book she could get her hands on, forgoing seeing her friends or actually having fun. She had royally embarrassed herself in front of the boys, just as she had embarrassed herself and her family. Instead of trying to keep up with her long flowing pink hair, she had asked her mom to just chop it all of, so she could 'have more time being a better student', as she put it. She still kept her red ribbon though.

Kizashi and Mebuki were extremely proud of their daughter, regardless of her test scores. She had made it into her dream class, and after finding out she was the very last one to make the cutoff, she started studying hard. Many children don't care about that, but surprisingly Sakura was different.

"I have to do good if I want to become a doctor," Sakura said at the dinner table, the night before the first day of school.

"Why do you want to be a doctor anyway? You do know it's not all glamorous and you'll see blood and things oozing out of bodies and long hours and-" Kizashi cut himself off, scooping pees into his mouth after seeing his wife's expression.

"What he means," Mebuki started, giving her husband a stern look, "is what made you want to be a doctor? You've talked about it from time to time but never explained why. What appeals to you?"

Sakura just stared at her parents. How could they not know? It should be so obvious!

"I want to help people," Sakura bluntly stated.

"Oh," Mebuki replied, just staring.

"May I be excused? I'm done."

"Sure, honey. Get a good night's rest," Mebuki smiled.

"Don't stay up all night thinking about boys!" Kizashi shouted after Sakura with a laugh.

Just a second later and Sakura heard a bang on the table and a scream from her dad. Sakura smiled to herself.

Silently opening up her door to her room, Sakura sauntered over to her bed, crashing down onto the red blanket. Throwing her hands behind her head, she stared up at the darkened ceiling, only illuminated by the moon's light coming in from her window.

Starting to doze off, Sakura remained on her bed, thinking away, waiting for sleep to overcome her senses and drift her away into an internal dream.

'Tomorrow is a new day. I wonder what it's going to be like. It's been awhile since I made a fool of myself in front of Sasuke. And Ino. Do they know where they placed? Who else is going to be in my class? Where am I going to sit? Will I get to choose? What if i'm stuck with all of those girls….That won't be good at all.

'I wonder if I'll get along with anyone. I'll have Sasuke, but I'm not sure if he'll want to even talk to me after I fainted. And he also said he didn't know me in front of that mean boy. What was that about? Is it because I was being bullied and he didn't want people to know we were friends? Are we friends? I'd like to think so.

'I know I'm friends with his brother. Itachi….I wonder how he's doing. Is he still sick? I haven't heard anything in a long time. I guess if he was doing any worse, Mama would've told me. But am I friends with him? I've talked to Sasuke more than him but….He was easier to talk to. I just felt so comfortable with him. So we've gotta be friends.

'Right? I am. I think. You know what! It doesn't matter. This is my year. I will make it on my own. I've studied hard. I spent all of my time trying to do better, better myself. No one is going to bring me down!

'….

'I hope.'

Not taking much time, Sakura finally succeeded in falling asleep with that last thought.

* * *

First day of class and Sakura Haruno is the first to arrive, trying to show her dedication to her new teacher.

"Ah Ms. Haruno, welcome," the young teacher of 22 said, motioning her to come in. Iruka Umino was his name, teaching the top students at Konoha West. He wore a pretty standard outfit, consisting of a midnight blue button down, tucked in dress shirt, with black slacks and a light tan belt. His brown hair was pulled back into a high spiked pony tail. The dark gash running from cheek to cheek across his face darkened his looks dramatically. Sakura had heard many rumors about his charm and good looks but as far as she could tell, he was pretty average.

Keeping a firm grip on her red notebook and pencil, Sakura scurried into the classroom, looking around in a hurried fashion. Normal white walls with motivational posters were covering the walls. Each desk held three students, and each had a different colored bandana.

"Mr. Iruka, where do you want me to sit?" she inquired, slowly turning to face him. Studying his facial features, Sakura felt curious as to how he had gotten his scar directly across the middle of his face, but chose not to ask. Yet.

"Let me see," Iruka replied, staring down at his chart. "You'll be sitting at 2B. Middle row, middle seat," he said with a slight smile.

Sakura briskly glided to her seat, eager to start class, eyeing the white bandana placed in front of her suspiciously.

Slowly but surely the classroom began to pile up. Sitting at the table behind her was a lazy kid who was constantly complaining about having to be there and thankfully Hinata. Sakura smiled at Hinata, who in turn quietly nodded her head. The boy just raised an eyebrow.

At the sound of the door opening, Sakura noticed Hinata's face turn a glorious shade of red and darted under her desk. Questioning her friend's odd behavior, Sakura turned her gaze onto the person who caused it.

Naruto. The blond wonder quickly rushed up the short amount of stairs and hurriedly plopped down onto the seat to the right of Sakura.

"Hey, Sakura! Remember me?" Naruto beamed with a lopsided smile. "I knew we were going to be classmates, but had no idea we'd be seat mates too!"

"Yeah, should be fun," Sakura smiled back.

Nothing the classroom was starting to fill up, she noticed the desk in front of her was still empty.

"I wonder who is gonna sit there," Naruto said Sakura's thoughts out loud.

Slightly grinning, sakura shrugged.

"Not sure. I'm actually curious about this seat," she said, motioning to the seat to her left.

At that moment Iruka cleared his throat. Gaining all of the children's attention, he began, "Everyone, this is Kai Adachi. He just transferred here from Konoha South. Give him a warm welcome and show kindness," he finished with a slightly warning tone.

The person in question was standing next to Iruka with a silly grin on his face. Rubbing the back of his strawberry red hair, causing his hair to become even more messy, he awkwardly laughed.

"Nice to meet everyone," he said, continuing to laugh, weirding some people out.

Like Sakura, everyone in the classroom immediately began studying him. He wore a brown shirt with a big bright red x across the middle and tan pants. Average. His flaming red hair seemed untamable. That, or he just didn't bother with learning what a brush was used for. He had slightly tanned skin, lighter then Naruto but darker than Sakura.

Making his way up the stairs, Kai stopped at the middle row. On closer inspection, Sakura noticed that he had bright green eyes, the same shade as her own.

Emerald staring at Emerald, Kai was the first to look away.

"So uh..I guess I'm sitting here," he quietly said, moving the chair away from the table.

"We got the new kid!" Naruto shouted with glee, earning a raised brow from Sakura.

"I'm Naruto! Don't forget it!" he said, shaking Kai's hand.

"Someone's happy to be here," Kai said to Sakura, smirking.

Slightly laughing, Sakura extended her own hand towards him.

"Sakura," she said with a small smile appearing on her lips.

Holding her hand for gingerly in his own, Sakura took the time to stare at his features close up. Small nose, same eyes, normal forehead, some freckles on his cheeks. Average. 'Nothing interesting about him,' Sakura thought.

"Kai," he finally said, realizing he was holding her hand for far too long.

Quickly letting go, Sakura turned her gaze back onto the bright blond who was nudging her repeatedly in the ribs, but not before she locked eyes with the boy who had bullied her a year prior. The boy slightly growled at her, still clearly mad at her for innocently bumping into him. He sat down next to the lazy boy.

"What?" Sakura growled, glaring at Naruto.

"This is Temari!" he shouted, pointing at the girl sitting in front of him.

"Yeah," the four ponytailed girl said, clearly not amused.

"I'm Sakura."

"Yeah," Temari took a deep sigh, staring at the front of the classroom with bored teal eyes.

"Guess she's not much of a talker," Kai shrugged.

"Guess so," Sakura replied.

"All right class, settle down," Iruka shouted.

Rapidly turning in her seat, eyes ablaze with determination, Sakura jumped up from her seat.

"But Mr. Iruka-"

"Call me Iruka sensei."

"Ok. Mr. Iruka sensei. The desk in front of me is still missing two people and I know Sasuke is supposed to be here. Maybe he's just running late….Or…" Sakura cut herself off when she noticed Iruka's stern face aimed directly at her.

"Just Iruka Sensei, and I don't really need to tell any of you what i'm planning, but I have two of your classmates out running some errands for me. Sasuke being one of them," he said, with a slight sigh at the end. Scratching his head, he moved over towards the middle of the classroom.

"By now i'm sure you all have introduced yourselves to the people at your table. And if you didn't, now is not the time to do so. Wait until i'm done," he said, clearly his throat.

"Now, if you'll notice, there are different colored bandana's on your table," he said, picking up the violet bandana from Temari's table.

"Each of you have one, and right now I'd like you all to tie it on a part of your body that is easily seen. Your head, neck, arm, wrist. In those areas."

"Ahh man…What a pain. I don't like where this is going," the boy behind Sakura said quietly.

"Can I put it like this?" Naruto asked, placing his white bandana across his face, in the same spot as Iruka's scar.

"N-Naruto!"

The classroom erupted in laughter at the blond's joke.

"I was being serious though," Naruto whispered to Sakura.

She smiled, as she removed the red ribbon from her hair and replaced it with the white bandana. She neatly folded the ribbon onto her desk, trying her best to take care of the old ribbon.

"Were you really? I think you should put it across your forehead, like this," Kai chimed in, tying the bandana in said place.

"Yeah, I guess," Naruto shrugged back, placing the bandana in the same location.

"This year is going to be a little different from the previous, so listen up. I requested a bigger classroom, thus adding 2 more tables, meaning 6 more students than normal. So for those of you who were in the bottom, be grateful," Iruka smiled, trying to ease the tension.

Sakura inwardly groaned at herself.

"Each table had the same colored bandanas. You will not be a team. Each non individual assignment will be done together. Every project and every activity as well. Since this is the first time most of you are in a class together, it's only left to be presumed that most of you don't know your teammates. That's why I devised a game for you all."

"We're gonna win! Believe it!" Naruto shouted, banging his hand on the table.

"Not this again. I thought we all told you to lay off the stupid saying?" the lazy kid said.

"YOU all agreed, Shikamaru. I never did," Naruto retorted, glaring back.

"I don't know Naruto. You have to remember that Sasuke is in this class, and he single handedly destroyed us at any game we ever played," the rather chubby kid stated from the table next to theirs, munching away at a bag of chips.

"Shoji, I didn't see you! Gimme some!" Naruto shouted gleefully, drooling partially.

"When did you bring in chips? Ehh Enough!" Iruka interrupted the chatting children.

"There is no real winning team. It's all about teamwork, and learning about one another. Getting to know each other's likes and dislikes. And…" he trailed off, leaving a pregnant pause in his wake. He passed out a piece of paper declaring the rules of the game.

'No hitting, no name calling, no cheating. Ok, pretty average things,' Sakura thought to herself, reading the paper eagerly. Darting her eyes to the bottom of the page, she slightly trembled.

"What does this mean?" Sakura shrieked.

"Problem, Sakura?" Iruka asked, tilting his head slightly.

"Yeah, I got in fair and square! I'm not getting kicked out because of my loser team!" Temari shouted.

"You haven't even met them yet."

"They better not slow me down. And if they do, they'll be the one cut, not me," Temari retorted, crossing her arms.

"Y-You can't be serious!" Naruto joined in.

"I am. I may have asked for the two spare desks, but I never had any intention of keeping them. And Temari, you're right. If your team fails, you might not be the one to be kicked out," stated Iruka, as he walked back to the center of the classroom.

"The three bottom teams will have a sort of voting process. They themselves will determine who should be here and who should go to one of the other classrooms."

"But why? How is that fair!" Sakura shouted, face turning red, feeling faint.

"It is. Year after year I teach students who only wanted to be here so they could meet the opposite sex. They're not here to learn. I'm done with that. Prove to me you want your spot in this class."

Biting her lower lip, Sakura looked down at her table. Even after barely making it into the class, she might be kicked out. She knew she messed up with how she treated her test last year, but she thought she was going to be able to put it behind her and focus on her ultimate goal. Her ultimate dream.

"Hey…Are you ok?" Kai whispered, voice full of concern.

"Oh. Yeah. I just…We need to win," she replied, determination covering her delicate features.

Studying her face for a moment, Kai grinned and nodded his head in agreement.

"Like Naruto said. We'll win, 'believe it'," Kai laughed, making Sakura laugh in return.

At that instant, the door slid open and the boy Sakura was dying to see again walked through.

"Sasuke…" she whispered, not noticing Kai's gaze still on her.

At his arrival, multiple girls in the classroom began to shout. Nobody noticed the girl entering behind him.

"Hi Sasuke!"

"Oh Sasuke, I can't believe we're finally in the same class!"

"Sasuke, switch spots with this kid! Sit next to me!"

"Get up pale guy. Move! Move! Move! Switch with him instead!"

"Settle down. What did I get myself into to," Iruka said aloud, one hand rubbing his temple.

"Take a seat."

Almost in a possessed motion, the hidden blonde behind the boy grabbed onto his arm.

"It was SO much fun setting everything up. To-get-her," she slowly accentuated each syllable, trying to gain everyone's attention.

"Come on Sasuke, let's go sit down at OUR desk," she beamed at the boy.

Sakura noticed that the two had already been wearing their violet bandanas, causing a swell of jealousy rise up. Sasuke was wearing his on his upper arm, and Ino had hers around her neck. Sakura silently snorted.

Sasuke, not caring one bit about the girls' protest, lead the two to the remaining open seats. Looking around the room, he tried to size up everyone in the room.

He was surprised to see Choji was there. Gradually moving his gaze to the uppermost row, he laughed at Shikamaru and Kiba. He truly didn't expect them to be there, but most of all, noticing bright blond at the desk before theirs, he never expected to see Naruto.

Continually roaming the room with his obsidian eyes, he stopped in his tracks the moment they laid on the emerald ones he had seen long ago.

The day that he and his brother had gone over to her house, she had fallen ill, or so he'd been told. He hadn't seen or heard from her sense that time just a few months ago.

Thinking he was being a gentleman, waiting for her to sit down first, Ino let go of Sasuke's arm and tried sitting down next to Temari, in the middle seat. A big hand gripping on her arm stunned her and prevented her from doing so.

"W-whats wrong?" Ino questioned, smoothing out her dark violet dress.

"I want to sit there," Sasuke replied, moving the chair next to him, motioning for her to sit there.

"Oh. Of course. You wanted to pull out my chair for me but I almost sat down. How silly," Ino laughed at herself, embarrassed.

Sakura silently gagged at herself. Naruto and Kai sniggered.

Sasuke, feeling forced, pushed Ino's chair in after she had sat down and proceeded to sit down in the middle seat, in front of Sakura. He turned his head and silently nodded at her, making Sakura's heart pound.

'I'm so happy…but why do I get the feeling of impending doom?' Sakura thought to herself, feeling every girl's dagger-filled eyes upon her.

Kai noticed the glares his teammate was receiving, and he glared back, putting his arm around her.

"What are you doing?!" Naruto said in a hushed tone.

Kai raised and eyebrow and moved his chin towards the glaring girl diagonal from Naruto. Naruto slowly moved to see the face and stuck his tongue out at the girl, placing his arm behind Sakura as well.

"Hum…" Sakura started, unsure of what to say. All of this attention was foreign to her. Unwarranted attention that is. She was used to getting yelled at by the girls, what with her constant arguments with their leader, Ino. But having someone, let alone two people, actively defending her felt different. It felt good. It felt comforting.

"Thank you."

"Not a problem. We're a team after all," Kai replied.

"-Tournament style. Look at the board and you'll see where to meet after lunch," Iruka finished saying, making Sakura realize that she had no heard a single word of what was said due to the 'Sasuke distraction'.

"You're dismissed for an hour."

Choji was the first one out the door.

"Do you know what he said?" Sakura turned around, asking Hinata.

"Uh-uhm…Y-yes. B-but…" the timid girl tried saying, avoiding Sakura's team's gaze.

"You can tell us during lunch! Let's go!" Naruto shouted, pulling Sakura up to her feet and down the steps; Simultaneously pulling their other teammate with them.

* * *

Lunch was normal enough. Except for the fact that Hinata's face was beat red. And she couldn't speak.

Growing frustrated with the situation, Sakura soon gave up on getting any information out of her.

"I'll see what's going on," Kai said, sensing the tension, "Naruto, come with."

"What's wrong?" Sakura half-asked, half-demanded.

"N-Nothing. I just-" Hinata started but was interrupted by a loud bang.

"Come on! Just tell me!" Naruto was screaming, sitting on Kiba's table.

"Shoulda been paying attention, idiot!" the boy screamed back.

Noticing her flinching, Sakura followed Hinata's eyes.

"Are you afraid of Naruto?" she asked.

Turning to look at her friend, her face turned a darker shade.

"I understand. I don't really know him, but he seems very unpredictable," Sakura said, still watching her teammate.

"All Iruka sensei said was we're gonna be playing the games in (munch munch) tournament form and (munch munch) to look on the board to see (munch munch)-" Choji started explaining.

"Look at the board, see what game you're playing and who its against. That's it," Shikamaru finished for his friend, with a bored expression on his face.

"Ahh. Thanks," Kai nodded, pulling Naruto off of the table.

Hearing a bunch of screams from girls, Sakura looked towards the commotion. Sasuke. It had to be Sasuke.

A group started swarming the poor guy; Girls from their class and girls from the others.

'I guess everyone has lunch at the same time,' Sakura sighed to herself, feeling bad for her friend. She wanted to run over there and push all of his fangirls out of the way, but before she was about to stand, her teammates had returned.

"Hmm?" Ino questioned, arms latched around Sasuke's arm. She noticed he started slowing down his pace, and was staring at something. Upon inspection, she realized he was staring at the forehead's table.

"Come on Sasuke!" she gripped him harder. "Let's go in the corner and get to know each other!" she flashed her pearly whites at him.

"Hn."

Sakura felt someone was staring at her but when she looked around, she noticed everyone was busy talking amongst themselves. The Temari girl was with two boys, one with redder hair than Kai's and one with dark brown hair. 'They look like they could be siblings,' she noted.

The boy that was labeled as pale was sitting at a table by himself, drawing. Sakura's number two bully, right after Ino, although Ino was more of a rival than anything else, bumped into him.

Not apologizing, she accused him of trying to grope her. The boy simply began drawing again, not letting her accusation faze him.

Following the girl with her eyes, she noticed she was walking away from everyone. Turning in her seat to get a better view, she saw her walking towards Sasuke and Ino, whom were sitting alone on the grass under a shady tree.

Looking sad for a split second, but not wanting Ino to see her, she quickly turned back in her seat. Returning to the conversation in front of her, Sakura listened in as Naruto and Kai decided to make a battle plan.

"So, from what that Shikamaru guy says, we're going up against him," Kai said pointing at the three quiet people at the table farthest from theirs.

Sakura recognized the one girl with the brown hair tied into buns. The other two, she didn't have the faintest idea as to who they were.

"That's Tenten and Shizune. The guy is Shino," Naruto answered everyone's unasked question.

"H-How do you know them?" Sakura asked, abashed.

"It's my job to know everyone in the school," Naruto replied, earning questioning stares.

"My dream is to become the leader of this whole town! A leader knows his people, and that's exactly what I have to start doing now."

"Good for you," Kai chimed in, smiling, smacking Naruto on the back.

"Now tell us what you know."

"Well….," Naruto began.

Sakura became unfocused again when she heard Ino squealing. Quickly turning to see what her problem was, she saw the absolute worse thing she could ever see.

Ino was squealing in 'fear' of what looked like a spider, as Sasuke had his arms wrapped around her, holding her off of the ground.

'Ohhh. That Ino! Making Sasuke hold her. Let along bridal style!' Sakura screamed in her mind, narrowing her eyes.

Catching sight of her intended victim, Ino moved herself closer to Sasuke and stuck her tongue out at the pinkette.

Sakura neglected to notice Sasuke straining from underneath her. Neglected to notice Sasuke yelling at the blonde, failing to keep her calm. Sakura neglected to notice that the entirety of the time Sasuke was sitting in the grass with Ino, he never once looked at her. Sasuke had kept his eyes fully on the pinkette, causing Ino to explode with anger.

Ino was jealous of Sakura stealing Sasuke's attention without even trying. Sakura had neglected to see any of that, enraging the blonde even more.

"That's it!" Sakura slammed her fist on her table.

Turning to see the people at the table staring back, worried, shocked, possibly scared, Sakura continued, "We've got to win! There's no way i'm letting her win! No way!"

"Yeah! Believe it!"

"We can do this. It's just a bunch of silly games after all."

Filled with determination, Sakura cracked her fingers, showing her partners she was serious.

'There's no way I'm going to lose to Ino. My team is going to come in first place and poor Ino will lose and be kicked out of the class. Chyeahh!'

* * *

**Next chapter will be about the tournament. Can't wait to start writing!**

**Toodles for now.**


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